Hoppy Easter!

We hope you and your family enjoyed Easter! Lucy loved the Easter bunny- Madeline said, "Mommy, let's get out of here." Sooooo....we only got a photo of Lucy.

It was a beautiful day today and we took full advantage. Here's a look at how we spent our day.....easter baskets, egg hunt, chalking, bubbles, and a wonderful dinner brought to us by Gramma and Grampa Maslow. Madeline's favorite cousin Alex was here today, too. Madeline and her chalked each other onto the driveway. I sure hope warmer weather comes soon. It's time to be outside everyday!

Seizure.

Today- happy girl again.

Madeline suffered through a Febrile Seizure yesterday while she was at school (She goes to early preschool 2x per week). She had just waken from naptime, was at the table reading books when she got up and laid down on the floor and the teachers say that's when it happened. Evidently this type of seizure is quite common among children and it is brought on by a sudden rise in temperature/fever. Receiving that phone call, and being told your daughter has had a seizure and the ambulance is on it's way...heartbreaking. I may have stopped breathing for a few minutes myself. Fortunately Lucy had just been fed and changed and so I was able to race out the door quickly- we arrived at the same time the ambulance arrived. I ran to her classroom to find her surrounded by staff and police officers- lying on the floor with a towel under her head, unconscious. I quickly left the room to try to gain some composure, which wasn't going to be easy. The compassion the staff had for her was visible in their tears, which of course made it harder for me to hold it together. I had to pull it together and went in to her, laid on the floor next to her. She came to- I put my hands on her. She was so hot, and so blue. The paramedics told me that the way she was acting; tired and generally out of it, was very normal. NORMAL? No part of this was normal as far as I was concerned. Because of the length of the seizure, 1 minute 20 seconds, they wanted to take her to ER for further tests. More scary. Lucy- I have Lucy! What am I supposed to do with Lucy? Can I take her in the ambulance? No. John, their daddy...he's on his way but he's not here yet. The great people at Primrose accepted Lucy into the baby room until her dad could pick her up and bring her to the ER to meet us. Madeline, in the meantime, was in the ambulance. This is the first time I've been in an ambulance and I pray the last. The ride is a blur. John tells me that I must have texted several times reminding his to get Lucy. Entry into the ER is a blur. Lots of questions from lots of people. But the only information I had was that for the first time in her life she was being treated for an ear infection. Blood draw, urine draw, swabs for strep, influenza, chest xrays....when was this going to end? Madeline would cry, then fall asleep, cry, then fall asleep. Finally after all that, the doctor says she believes the ear infection never cleared and the infection caused the fever and that in all likelihood this would never happen again.

We picked up an orange popscicle and headed for home.

Last night I couldn't get the image of her lying on the floor, her coloring, her cry....I can't get it out of my head! Argh. What if I would have known she had a fever that morning, what if I had let her sleep in that morning rather than waking her for school? What if I would have kept her home? So many what if's......could I have prevented this, is this my fault? I'm sad.

Today her fever has been up and down, seems to be controlled by alternating Motrin and Tylenol. She's been spoiled with bedtime and naptime in mommy's bed.....a mistake we will no doubt pay for later when it's time to go back to bed in her bed!

Easter Eggs.

Sunday afternoon we colored Easter eggs- a fun afternoon indeed. Lots of dye, lots of spills, lots of smiles. We had Madeline's favorite "uncle" over, Paul. We had the pleasure of meeting his new girlfriend, Kendra. Lucy kept entertained watching the egg-tastic fun, too! We followed up this event with bbq chicken on the grill. The next day, it snowed.

Princess Party.

What a fun morning and afternoon we had on Saturday at our friend's daughter's 5th birthday! She had Sleeping Beauty at her party! They had face painting, story telling, dress up, dancing and of course pizza, cake and ice cream. Madeline wasn't at all afraid of meeting Sleeping Beauty, in fact, she made sure she was front and center of "Princess Aurora" the entire party. Here's a few photos from the day. You'll find that Lucy made the cut- she was having a private moment in the corner and I couldn't resist a shot of her facial expression......and oh, in the group shot of all the little princesses, Madeline was missing because she was busy playing with her baby sister. So sweet. When the princess had to leave, one little girl ran to the window and said, "Why is Sleeping Beauty leaving in a car? Where is her carriage?" It reminded me of when I was that age and we had Santa Clause visit us at Gramma's house- I never understood why he landed on the roof in his sleigh, but left in a mini van?

The girls.

OH Lucy. Juicy Lucy. Lulu. Little sister....Lucy is 6 months now. Her weight, 21 lbs. Her length, 27.5 and her head....it's big. Just like Madeline. Actually, her measurements are quite in line with her big sister's at that age. Whoever says Lucy is chubby is right, she is! She's been given the nickname "Porkulous". I shall keep that person's name a secret, however. She's a healthy babe. Doctor says she's impressed at how well she sits up and stays balanced. While Lucy is having some difficulties in the sleeping department, meaning, she doesn't....and when she cries it's not a small whimper but a full out scream, and while she's challenging us on so many levels of patience, she is a very sweet baby when she's happy. She eats her cereal and her fruit and some veggies like a champ and she puts anything she can hold onto into her mouth for a suck, a chew and a taste. She loves to laugh at her big sister. She loves to watch Jersey and Sophie puppies in the house, and if they get close enough she'll grab onto their fur and pull. Her eyes light up when she smiles- and even on the worst of days, the most tired of days, the most I'm-annoyed-at-you-Lucy days....when she smiles her whole body smiles and that makes it okay....for that moment anyway ;-) Madeline is 2 years and 8 months now- her weight, 32 lbs and her length is 36 inches. Her head has caught up with the rest of her and she's doing fabulous. She's a chatterbox, she speaks so clearly most of the time and usually in complete, or somewhat broken, sentences. Madeline...sweet Madeline. She's a gentle-hearted, charming little girl. See that...."little girl". She's not a baby anymore, and hardly a toddler. Where does the time go? It goes fast, that's where. Madeline is into a name phase now- Daddy is John. Mom is mommy for the most part, but lately it's been Jeff....I correct her and tell her Bubba's name is Jeff. Then she just calls me "Jec-ca-ca." It's pretty funny actually- and of course when she does it we laugh, which only makes her want to do it more. She is a wonderful big sister. She's nurturing and for the most part very gentle with little sister. Occasionally they get into it, like sisters must (I wouldn't know, I don't have one). Lucy pulls on Madeline's hair, tries to chew on whatever Madeline is holding- Madeline likes to take whatever Lucy has in her hand and say "mine". Madeline, if she doesn't think I'm looking, likes to sit on Lucy and tickle her. I'm sure someday the tickles will turn into a full blown push, I'm sure the hair pulling will undoubtedly be reciprocated into a full scuffle and I"m sure the phrase, "it's mine..", perhaps followed by a thud.....will be a familiar one in years to come. For now, it's sweet to watch. I'm going to find myself some lunch now. Tuesday is a "school day" for Madeline and Lucy is still napping in her carseat from her appointment this morning. Have a lovely day and thanks for reading.